Apple Turnovers
by Lucathia Rykatu
Summary: It all began when Sakuno showed up at Fuji's front door, ready for a baking session with Yuuta. A romance in three parts featuring three different POVs.


Apple Turnovers

by Lucathia

**Disclaimer:** I don't own Prince of Tennis and make no profit from writing this.

**Notes:** Written for thesundaywriter for the potcrackxchange LJ community.

* * *

When Fuji opened his front door, he hadn't expected Ryuuzaki Sakuno to be standing there. She looked just as surprised as he felt and was staring at him without blinking, but he wasn't able to dwell on her unexpected presence for long because her arms were full of trays and measuring cups. There was no way he'd let her stand out there like that. He held out his hands in an offer to help.

"Thank you very much, Fuji-sempai," murmured Sakuno quietly. She tried to bow, but her trays threatened to slip out of her hands. In one quick motion, Fuji lifted two of the trays before they could fall. Sakuno looked gratefully at him and managed to complete her bow.

As Fuji helped her inside, he remembered the conversation he had with Yuuta the day before. "So you're the partner that Yuuta has been mentioning lately?" he asked curiously. He hadn't known that Sakuno had chosen to go to culinary school and was even in the same dessert courses as Yuuta. Yuuta had gone to a normal university for a year before changing his plans, so they were most likely in the same year.

Sakuno nodded. "I'm very thankful that Yuuta-kun is my partner."

Fuji smiled and placed one pair of slippers down for her with his free hand. He thought it was very, very interesting that she had called his little brother "Yuuta-kun" considering Yuuta was one year older than her. If his memory served him correctly, he remembered that Sakuno had always called him and the other upperclassmen with the proper terms of address, but then, Yuuta had always been a special case with how much he wanted to be his own person. Besides, Yuuta and Sakuno were classmates. Perhaps he was reading too much into it, but that didn't mean he couldn't tease Yuuta about this.

* * *

Fuji watched his little brother and Sakuno as they prepared the batter. Their cooking supplies were all over the place, as if a hurricane had blown through their kitchen. Yuuta didn't have much of a gift for making delicacies-that talent went to their older sister-but he excelled at tasting and he followed recipes well enough. Currently, Sakuno was the one in charge. She directed Yuuta to do this and that, keeping an eye on his work even as she minded her own parts of the process. The two of them were fascinating to watch. Despite the mess the kitchen was in, Yuuta obviously knew where everything was. Fuji had never known how assertive Sakuno could be either. She was entirely in her element.

"I can't wait to taste the end product," commented Fuji with a large smile.

Yuuta didn't pause in mixing the flour. "Aniki, go amuse yourself with something else already. We're going to take a while."

"I don't mind. I like watching," said Fuji. Fuji hummed and turned to Sakuno. "Do you mind me watching?"

"I...don't mind, Fuji-sempai," replied Sakuno.

Fuji turned a triumphant smile towards his little brother. Yuuta merely scowled.

"If you're going to stand there and watch us, you might as well make yourself useful. Give him some directions, Ryuuzaki-san," grumbled Yuuta.

So Yuuta was still calling her "Ryuuzaki-san". How predictable of him. Fuji got right to work with Sakuno's instructions. He had watched them long enough to figure out Yuuta's system, so he had no trouble figuring out where things were despite the mess the kitchen was in. He grabbed himself a knife and chopped up the apples the way Sakuno wanted them.

When they finished setting the apple turnovers in the oven to bake, the three of them settled down in front of the oven to wait. The kitchen was in an even larger mess than before with flour all over the place. Fuji glanced to the side and almost laughed when he saw that Yuuta had a smudge of flour over his nose. Next to him, Sakuno had a smudge of flour over her flushed cheeks. Fuji felt the need to rub the flour off both Yuuta's nose and Sakuno's cheeks, but he doubted either of them would have appreciated that much. Instead, he reached into his pocket, pulled out his small camera, and snapped a photo before either of them could respond. They were just that cute.

"Aniki!" exclaimed Yuuta, but despite his protest, Fuji could see the corners of his little brother's mouth lifting up.

Sakuno was smiling too. She quickly hid her smile with the back of her hand when Fuji glanced her way.

* * *

After the apple turnovers finished baking, Yuuta took them out of the oven. He lightly sprinkled powdered sugar over them.

"Now for the tasting," Yuuta said. "I should warn you, Ryuuzaki-san, that my brother's taste buds are very weird, so don't mind what he says."

"Yuuta, don't make me sound so bad," chided Fuji.

Sakuno giggled at their banter. "I don't know if this will be to your preference, Fuji-sempai, but please try our apple turnovers. You helped a lot with them too."

All three of them bit into their own portions, careful of how hot they were fresh out of the oven. For a moment, Fuji was lost in the scent of apples and cinnamon, the taste of tangy but sweet fruit filling his mouth.

"Mm, delicious," he declared. "But a bit too sweet."

"What do you mean?" countered Yuuta. He took another bite. "They're perfectly fine," he said around his mouthful of apple turnovers.

"Yuuta," said Fuji calmly, shaking his head. "You use five packs of sugar in your tea. I'm not sure your sense of sweetness can be trusted."

Sakuno giggled again.

* * *

Fuji saw a lot more of Sakuno after that day. She came over more than once to work on projects with Yuuta. Sometimes Fuji joined in. Other times, he merely sampled their work, but he always looked forward to days when Sakuno came over. She was a delight to watch-one moment she could be as clumsy as ever; the next, she could show a gracefulness he had never seen before. She was also very fun to talk with.

"Do you know that Yuuta always eats the strawberry on his cakes first?" asked Fuji as he took a bite out of the cake they had baked today.

Sakuno glanced over at Yuuta questioningly.

Yuuta merely scowled. "That's only because Aniki would steal the strawberry if I didn't eat it right away!"

"Oh!" exclaimed Sakuno, as if she had suddenly remembered something. "Last time we baked a fruit cake, Yuuta-kun ate the strawberries first too."

Fuji chuckled. "Don't tell me you were afraid she was going to eat all your strawberries, Yuuta?"

Yuuta blushed and stabbed his cake. He was just so fun to tease. Fuji was glad Sakuno was here to share stories about Yuuta's time at culinary school. He'd been afraid Yuuta would grow up without his knowing, but now, he felt as if he were just that much closer with Yuuta after hearing about what he was like at school. Fuji was only disappointed that Yuuta's interactions with Sakuno were all so innocent. Not once had he seen them hold hands or do anything that hinted at them being more intimate. It was really too bad. Sakuno was such a fine, young lady. Fuji would have loved it if she were to become his sister-in-law. It was this thought that made his later feelings appalling for him.

* * *

"Tezuka, I have a problem," stated Fuji out of the blue.

Fuji didn't know when his feelings had changed. All he knew was that they had, and he was in such deep trouble. He had his hands wrapped tightly around his cold drink. His old friend and teammate sat across from him at a small table in the cafe they had chosen to grab a quick lunch at.

"What's wrong?" asked Tezuka.

Fuji sighed. He had tried to puzzle out when this shift of feelings had happened. When had he transitioned from hoping to hear Sakuno tell stories about Yuuta to hoping to hear Sakuno tell stories about herself? His feelings made no sense to him. He had never seen Sakuno in such a light in all those years that he had known her.

"It doesn't make sense," finished Fuji after he told Tezuka about Sakuno.

"Fuji," said Tezuka slowly. "Sometimes feelings don't make sense."

"But I've known Sakuno for years, and I've never felt this way before."

Tezuka stirred his drink. "Think about Miyuki and me," said Tezuka. "You know I have never thought of Miyuki that way before either, but she grew up, and you were the one who convinced me that it was okay to like her romantically. Before that, I've always seen her as a little sister."

Fuji sipped his drink, the cool raspberry tea way too sweet for his tastes even though he did find himself enjoying sweet things more nowadays. Sakuno had become an impressive young woman. Perhaps she had always been this way, but he had never had the chance to get to know her better until now. Back in middle school, he had only known Sakuno as Ryuuzaki-sensei's granddaughter and one of Echizen's supporters. Getting to know Sakuno better was all thanks to Yuuta, really. If not for these cooking sessions, Fuji wouldn't have come into contact with Sakuno again.

That led Fuji down a whole new thorny path of thoughts. Sakuno was Yuuta's classmate. Surely Yuuta liked her? Fuji had even considered the thought that Sakuno might one day become his sister-in-law. While Fuji loved to meddle in Yuuta's business and especially loved to tease Yuuta over his crushes, Fuji had never ever entered himself into the equation before. He didn't quite know how to handle this.

"I think Yuuta might like her," said Fuji quietly.

"Do you know that?" asked Tezuka.

"No, but I have a feeling that he might. They're classmates after all, and I've never seen Yuuta bring home a girl before."

"Even if he does like her, you shouldn't keep your feelings buried," advised Tezuka. "You won't be able to act naturally around them if you do that."

"Since when have you become an expert on relationships, Tezuka?" asked Fuji in amusement.

"Just now," replied Tezuka.

Fuji laughed. He needed that.

* * *

During the weekends, Sakuno worked at a small bakery. The workers at the bakery wore a striped, green apron that came along with a green bow and a small, striped hat. The hat always slipped whenever Sakuno wore it. She was in the midst of fixing her hat with some bobby pins when her next customer came up to the register. She rang up the bread before she looked up.

"That will be 680 yen," she said. It was then that she noticed her customer was none other than Fuji Shuusuke. It was strange how often she came into his presence lately. She probably saw more of him than she saw of her best friend, Tomoka. Fuji-sempai always had amusing things to say about himself and about Yuuta-kun. She admired how close the two brothers were. She had thought that cooking at Yuuta-kun's house would be awkward, but the friendly banter between the brothers had dispelled all her nervousness.

"Oh, Fuji-sempai!" she exclaimed in surprise. "This is the first time I've seen you here."

Fuji smiled as he handed over the bills. "I heard from Yuuta that you were working here."

"Is that so?" commented Sakuno conversationally. She counted out his change for him.

"When does your shift end?" asked Fuji. "I have something I'd like to tell you."

Never in Sakuno's life would she have guessed what Fuji wanted to tell her. She merely thought he was going to ask after Yuuta-kun again.

* * *

to be continued


End file.
